Is there good Greek food in Austin?

Mike O. wrote:
><putting on asbestos flame-retardant underwear> Is there good German,
>Italian, Mexican,  Deli, Bakery, Pizza, Polish here in Austin ?  The answer
>in NO.

I can only speak about Mexican food. Being a mexican native (born, raised and educated in Mexico) I can assure you, Fonda San Miguel serves excellent mexican food, most of it traditional with some of the chef's creations mixed in.

NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 21:11:43 CDT
Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu austin.food:5131

"Good" to me is a wonderful Greek, Italian, German or Mexican dinner in a Mom & Pop neighborhood restaurant.  Usually under 20 bucks per person. Austin only has a small handful of these types of places (Reale's on 183).

Norman R. wrote:
>

NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 21:40:41 CDT
Organization: Verio
Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu austin.food:5167

I married a man from the Boston area - and we BOTH love CFS.  Bob's in Round Rock has the best.  Never had it until he took me there - and I grew up in the south.  The gravy is spicy and the exact texture/thinness required for good gravy.  Don't knock it til you try it!

The ethnicity of the food should not be a question here either.  Nope - it ain't Boston, NYC, or any place in Jersey - but the food is good if you recognize and accept that you are not there (in the above listed places) anymore.  The 'Epicurean opportunities are all around us - never had a breakfast taco up north - that's for sure - or a kolache for that matter. There is, on the other hand, awesome CFS (see above), GREAT Tex-Mex, wonderful southern cooking, incredible Korean (Koreana comes to mind), among others.  Open your mind as well as your mouth - it's all there for the asking ... it just isn't northern food.

Enjoy!

khp

Someone wrote:

> Nor I, having moved from the Boston area almost 5 years ago to marry
> a Texan.  I do miss the wide selection of inexpensive, unpretentious
> ethnic food available where I come from, as well as inexpensive homestyle
> restaurants where the food doesn't taste like it was cooked a week ago
> and kept warm since.
>
> To be perfectly frank, Austin is the first place I've ever lived where
> locals on the food newsgroup have given rave restaurant reviews based on
> their mashed potatoes, homestyle boiled for hours until mush green beans,
> and variations on ketchup-and-syrup-sauce BBQ.
>
> I admit as a Yankee, I can't fathom the appeal of a chicken fried steak,
> and can't tell a bit of difference between a good and a bad one, and
> fail to understand the appeal of the library paste gravy used on them.
> I've resigned myself to the fact that I moved to "Merkle" Whip and Tater
> Tot land, but even my native Texan husband, after a mere week's vacation
> in the Boston area laments the lack of good restaurants available here.
>
> --
>
>   jamie  ([email removed])
>
>   "There's a seeker born every minute."
>

I can make a few suggestions, all of them missing the mark on one criterion or another, but possibly meeting your needs better than where you've been going.

Like you, I miss the Jasmine Cafe and I hate veggies that are cooked to mush. I haven't found what I consider to be an outstanding Chinese restaurant (I don't like Chinese food enough to try often or to consider myself a good judge of it), but I like stir-fry dishes from Satay on Anderson Lane, from Thai Kitchen on Guadalupe near 29th, from Satay's cousin Noodle House behind the 7-11 at 26th and Guadalupe.

 Mother's Cafe and West Lynn (mentioned recently in another thread) are veggie restaurants, and they tend to serve things over pasta or rice, but the vegetables are available in a variety of ways, none of them cooked to mush. They offer a variety of stir-fries, steamed vegetable plates, soups, fresh salads and fruits,   Be careful to ask about cumin, because they use it a lot, but it's not in everything.  There are more cumin-free selections at WLC, but it's farther from where you want to be.

Phonecia Bakery has deli deli counters on S. Lamar and near 45th and Burnet. They sell hummus, falafel, other mideast dishes, but in more of a carryout situation.  Milto's, just north of campus, serves Greek and pizza.

Mirabelle (Castle Hill's cousin), near Steck and Mesa, is a bit pricey but in your neighborhood and good food.

I have to confess your criteria eliminated a lot of the places I had in mind, but I'm sure there are others.  I know I've seen a number of chinese restaurants and other Asian cuisine recommended here that are farther north, but I don't get beyond 183 very often.  I'm sure someone else can offer more suggestions.

Good luck,

keith

wrote:
>Someone wrote:
>>But as a vegetarian, I've managed to eat pretty well at restaurants here  on a
>
>>limited budget for several years now with a pretty good variety in my choices.
>
>> I've never lived where the choices were better, so if you just want to lament
>
>>that you have less here than there, I can sympathize.  But if you want some
>>suggestions, just ask.
>
>I'm about as far from vegetarian as you can get, as a lowcarber.  I eat
>mainly non-starchy vegetables and meat/poultry/seafood.
>
>If you can suggest fairly inexpensive restaurants with a reasonable
>selection of (not beans) vegetables that are not breaded and fried,
>drowned in a cheese or thickened sauce, breaded casserole, or cooked
>to mush, I would very much appreciate it.  Preferably north of central
>Austin.
>
>I don't care for most Mexican or Indian food, though, because I can't
>stand the taste of cumin, although suggestions of cumin-free Mexican
>dishes would be welcome as well, since my husband and in-laws love
>Mexican food.
>
>Any Szechuan/Hunan/Mandarin Chinese suggestions would also be very much
>appreciated, if they exist.  I haven't run across any since Jasmine Cafe
>went out of business.  I don't care for Cantonese or Hong Kong styles
>very much.
>